More, from a press release issued by Dorna WorldSBK Press Office:
Bautista wins shortened Race 2, Vierge claims maiden podium
The Ducati rider bounced back after his DNF in the Tissot Superpole Race to take the win ahead of Razgatlioglu and Vierge
Alvaro Bautista claimed his 37th WorldSBK win in an interrupted Race 2. He heads to the first European Round as the Championship leader with 87 points and a 37-point advantage in the standings.
P1 | | Alvaro Bautista | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati
“In Race 2, starting from tenth position was not easy especially because, on this track, it’s not easy to pass. In a normal situation, there aren’t a lot of points to overtake other riders but with this condition with only a small line of good grip, it’s almost impossible. I tried to remain focused at the beginning. When they showed the red flag, I started from fourth place and maybe the lines got a bit easier.
I had to start with the harder rear tyre because we didn’t have more softs. I had to choose between a hard with two laps on it or a soft with eight laps on. We put the hard tyre on and tried to adapt. I tried to stay calm at the beginning. When I saw Rinaldi go away, I thought he had a really good pace. It was a good reference for me to get some advantage on Toprak. I was catching him but at Turn 1 I made a mistake and went a bit wide. I lost more than one second, so I lost a lot of distance to Rinaldi. I didn’t think I could catch him but in the last laps I saw drop him a lot. I tried to keep my pace. When I caught him, my pace was much faster, but I didn’t want to risk an overtake. I waited a couple of laps just to be sure that, when I pass him, I did it in a safe place without risk for him or for me. I’m so happy because, from a really difficult start today, we came back and we showed that we are strong this year. I’m happier with this victory than the other ones.”
Toprak Razgatlioglu was second and 1.218s off Bautista. He moved up in the Championship standings to take second place with 55 points.
Xavi Vierge secured his maiden podium finish for Honda with third place, finishing 3.050s behind the race winner.
P3 | Xavi Vierge | Team HRC
“You can’t believe how happy I am, we have worked so hard since last year, but we always missed something to fight for that position! The start of the season in Australia was so hard but team supported me and here in Indonesia, they gave me a bike that I could recover the feeling and speed! During the weekend, we’ve improved. Finally, we’ve got it! The team had an amazing plan, and I could finish in third position, which is a victory for everyone at the moment. We gave it everything until the last lap.”
Jonathan Rea crashed out of the race after he crashed at Turn 7. The six-time World Champion was diagnosed with a right distal thigh deep abrasion following the crash.
WorldSBK Race 2 Report
The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship’s visit to the Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit for the Motul Indonesian Round featured another dramatic race in Race 2 as Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) fought back to claim victory in Indonesia in a red-flagged Race 2 after battling with teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi. It was also a memorable race for Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) as he claimed his first WorldSBK podium after a strong Indonesian Round.
The original race was red flagged at the start of Lap 8 after an incident at Turn 11 involving Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) with both riders retiring from the race and unable to take the restart. Van der Mark was taken to the medical centre for a check-up following the crash. The starting grid for the restarted race was based on the last completed timing point for every rider and the race distanced reduced to 14 laps for the restarted race.
Rinaldi started the restarted race from pole position and, despite losing momentum at the start, was able to hold that throughout the opening laps of the 14-lap race. The gap was at over one second at when Bautista passed Razgatlioglu before the reigning Champion started closing in on teammate and by Lap 11, he had closed the gap back down to a tenth. Bautista made the move on his teammate on Lap 13 of 14 at Turn 10 to move into the lead of the race. On the final lap, Rinaldi ran wide at Turn 10 and lost two positions to Razgatlioglu and Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) in third place with Vierge taking his first WorldSBK podium after claiming third place after he started the restarted race from third on the grid. He was running in the chasing group throughout Race 2 and was able to take advantage of Rinaldi running wide to move into the podium places behind Razgatlioglu, who had been fighting for the podium throughout the restarted race.
Rinaldi ended up in fourth place and less than a second clear of Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) in fifth place with the two Italians separated by just 0.780s at the end of the race. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) continued his impressive Indonesian Round with sixth place with Petrucci less than a second behind Locatelli in sixth place. Locatelli had briefly led the original race but lost ground shortly afterwards, dropping him down the order on the grid for the restarted race.
WorldSBK will return with the Pirelli Dutch Round taking place from the 21st to the 23rd of April at the TT Circuit Assen.
Read the full report from Race 2 on worldsbk.com
WorldSBK Race 2 Results
1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +1.218s
3. Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) +3.050s
4. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +4.068s
5. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +4.848
6. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) +5.838s
WorldSBK Championship standings
1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 112 points
2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) 75 points
3. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) 70 points
Tissot Superpole Race Results
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu / Yamaha
2. Andrea Locatelli / Yamaha / +1.110s
3. Alex Lowes / Yamaha / +1.372s
First victory since 2019 for Caricasulo after last-lap battle with Manzi
Federico Caricasulo took his first Supersport win since 2019 and his first one with Ducati in
Race 2. He is now fourth in the Championship standings, three points away from third place.
P1 | Federico Caricasulo | Althea Racing
“I’m super happy because the team did a very good job with the bike. From yesterday, it wasn’t easy to improve the bike. Sometimes we could be faster, other times slower. Today the bike was better. My front tyre was better for all the race and I could focus on riding. It was really difficult because the temperature was really high, and we had to push for 18 laps. In the end, I had something more than Manzi and when I tried to overtake him in the last lap and then I pushed in the last two sectors and we were able to win the race!”
Stefano Manzi recovered from tenth on the grid to fight at the front but was denied the win by Caricasulo in the last lap. He is second in the standings with 59 points.
Nicolo Bulega was third and remains the Championship leader as he leaves Mandalika with an 18-point advantage in the standings.
WorldSSP Race 2 Report
There was an incredible fight in the FIM Supersport World Championship during the Motul Indonesian Round at the Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit as Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing Team) claimed his first win of the 2023 campaign. Caricasulo lead an Italian 1-2-3 in the 18-lap race to claim his first win since Portimao in 2019 as he ended a four-year wait for victories in WorldSSP.
At the start of the race, Can Oncu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) were fighting for first position with the Turkish star making a move on Bulega at T1 on Lap 3. Oncu looked to break clear, but he was never more than a second away from the chasing pack and, on Lap 13, Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) passed Oncu into Turn 10 move into the lead of the race.
Manzi led until the final lap of the race but Caricasulo, who also battled past Oncu and Bulega at around the halfway stage of the race, made a move on his compatriot at Turn 10 to move into the lead of the race. Caricasulo was able to hold on to claim his first win in 68 WorldSSP races, as he took his seventh WorldSSP victory and 29th podium. Ducati claimed their third win in the 2023 season, equalling their previous best season in terms of wins which was in 2000. Manzi was able to come home in second place for his seventh WorldSSP podium, while Bulega was able to fight back on Oncu to return to the rostrum.
Oncu took fourth place after leading throughout the first half of the race, finishing more than 1.5 second down on the podium positions at the end of the race while he was also three seconds clear of rookie Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) in fifth place. Schroetter had an early-race battle with Niki Tuuli (Dynavolt Triumph) with the Finn taking sixth spot at the end of the race meaning five manufacturers were inside the top six in Race 2.
WorldSSP will return with the Pirelli Dutch Round taking place from the 21st to the 23rd of April at the TT Circuit Assen.
